In a text published on Thursday (18), the Council and the European Parliament declared that they had reached an agreement “about stricter rules” with regard to the supervision of money laundering. The cryptocurrency sector is being widely affected.
The European Union consists of a total of 27 countries, including superpowers such as Germany, France and Italy. The list also includes countries such as Belgium, Spain, Portugal and Sweden, which share the euro as a currency and several financial laws.
The European Union’s efforts are intensifying with every stumble in the cryptocurrency sector. For example, FTX’s bankruptcy served as fuel to accelerate local regulation. More recently, the use of cryptocurrencies by terrorist groups has had the same impact.
The European Union’s new regulations on cryptocurrencies
Although the European Union already has the largest regulation in the field of cryptocurrencies, called MiCA (Markets in Crypto-Assets), the Council and the European Parliament have presented new regulations for this sector through the program called AMLR (Anti-Money Laundering Regulation ).
“The new rules will cover most of the cryptocurrency sector, forcing all crypto asset service providers (CASPs) to conduct due diligence on their customers”points to the text. “This means they must verify facts and information about their customers and report suspicious activity.”
“Under the agreement, CASPs will be required to apply customer due diligence measures when executing transactions worth 1,000 euros (R$5,370) or more. This adds measures to mitigate risks related to self-custodial wallet transactions.”
If we analyze the above snippet, it means that brokers need to analyze the addresses of each user. In other words, the investor may have to prove the origin of his cryptocurrencies with every new deposit above the stated amount.
“This will improve the way national systems for combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism are organized and work together.”said Vincent Van Peteghem, Minister of Finance of Belgium. “This will ensure that scammers, organized crime and terrorists will have no room to legitimize their income through the financial system.”
In addition to cryptocurrencies, the regulation also covers trading in precious metals such as gold, jewelry, gemstones and even traders in yachts, aircraft and luxury cars. The text even mentions real estate agents and professional football clubs.
“A maximum limit of 10,000 euros has been set for cash payments throughout the European Union”, the text continues, noting that each Member State can reduce this limit at its discretion. In other words, the regulations do not directly concern cryptocurrencies, despite the fact that they have a major impact on this sector.
Market fears that new regulations will overwrite the old ones (MiCA)
According to internal documents from DLNews, the new regulations will focus on ending private cryptocurrencies, such as Monero (XMR) and ZCash (ZEC), privacy-oriented wallets and also mixers such as Tornado Cash.
Because it is more restrictive than MiCA (Markets in Crypto-Assets), which is based solely on cryptocurrencies, some players fear that the new regulations will overwrite the old ones.
“Our main focus was to ensure that the scope of the AMLR (Anti-Money Laundering Regulation) does not exceed the scope of MiCA”says Tommaso Astazi, head of regulatory affairs at Brussels-based group Blockchain For Europe.
Finally, in the case of a group with so many economically strong and influential countries, it is possible that these laws will be adopted by other participants, especially if they are presented to other groups such as the G7, which also seek to regulate the economy. the sector.
Source: Live Coins
Barry Siefert is an accomplished journalist and author at The Nation View. He is known for his expertise in the field of cryptocurrency, and has written extensively on the topic. With a background in finance and economics, Barry has a deep understanding of the underlying technology and market forces that drive the crypto industry.
